This is a quick extra blog as we have a few minutes in San Martin de los Andes before we head southwards.
During our first month or so in the country, we have made some cultural observations about the locals and the country while travelling about and meeting people. So, here we go, in no particular order...
* Mate - by a large margin, the locals' favourite tipple. It's a green herb (Herba) tea that is drunk in a small pot, known as a Mate (pronounced maa-tay) through a metal straw. Everybody drinks it here, from the cool southern regions to the piping hot northern regions (where it is said that it actually cools you down - Susan is a firm believer and Gordon thinks it's a load of tosh). Very tasty, drunk with sugar, is bitter in taste. The tea is drunk whether in the street, on a journey, one the phone or just simply driving your tractor to work!
* Breast feeding - by far, the most open country to breast feed in public that we know of. Whether in a restaurant, on the bus or in the park, it's happening!
* Locos drivers - Step on to the street and if you have not looked properly, you may have no legs seconds later. Speed is of the essence especially in the big cities. Zebra crossings are purely decorative.
* Tostados - This is ham and cheese sandwich with no crusts. Absolutely everywhere! The majority of long distance bus meals include one of these. For those at home, this is the equivalent of a toastie.
* Caramelo - Exactly what is says on the tin, this is typically served with breakfast on toast but you tend to find that the Argentinians stuff this extremely sweet paste into every bit of pasty that they see.
* Empanadas - Well, you know our thoughts on those tasty little morsals...
* Paridilla - Essentially, it's a bbq. It's just outright tasty.
* Capibaras and Llamas - Susan did not feel this list was complete without mentioning two of her favourite animals to date on the trip. Susan won't be leaving South America without a Capibara as a pet and, if all else fails, will smuggle a Llama back home to the Dales.
* Waterfalls and holes - We failed to mention this is one of our previous blogs. Whilst at the farm, Susan slipped off one of the skinny path that we were clearing, landing arse first in to a substantial pit of thorns, which, if had not been there would have been fatal (serious steep cliff). Gordon, appointed the local surgeon, was to spend the afternoon tweezing thorns from Susan's derrier. Note - if these thorns (2cm long) get in you fully, they don't come out until they want to. Susan really could have done with a doughnut.
* Wild boars and hornets - It turns out, as we have been informed this morning by a park ranger, that we are entering the season of the hornet. We both have zilch experience of hornets. We have been advised not to follow the example of the wild boar in Parque Nacional Lanin. This foolish creature tends to run at a hornet's nest in an attempt to head butt it out of its territory. The, rightly so, pissed off hornets attack the boar and if you turn up a couple of days after the incident, the boar is no more than a stack of bones. We have been warned.
* Sugar - We have never seen this much 'pop' (coke, fanta, sprite, etc) drunk in one nation. People walk around with 3 litre bottles of coke and several straws connected together to reach the pool at the bottom of the bottle. Even they beat Susan's sweet tooth. We are surprised that the Argentinians still have teeth.
* Buses - We are becoming experts in this field after surpassing 125 hours of bus travel. We have commented on this before, but if you get the right long haul bus over here, the journey passes in no time. Get the wrong bus and you will have an irritatingly slow and uncomfortable journey. For those who may travel, over 8 hours get Cama Coche, under 8 hours, get semi-cama. Noteable companies - Flechabus, Andesmar, Via Bariloche, Chevallier and Mercabus Ultraplus. REMEMBER: NEVER RIO URUGUAY
* Gaucho - An ideal portrait snapshot. The Gaucho is the traditional cowboy of Argentina who has been emmulated by many locals, i.e. the attire is evident but the way of life has been lost.
* Latin Spanish and Spanglish - We have been very pleased that when talking to the locals they enjoy communicating in 'Spanglish' (the Spanish/English that Gordon is currently learning). Also, Susan is coming to terms with the dialect/pronounciation that is different from Castilliano, where the ll is pronounced 'sh'. That said, the locals are more than happy to communicate with us and seldom break into English.
Well, that's a few observations and occurences while we have been here. We're pretty tired from our little bit of trekking in the last couple of days so will sign off there. Unfortunately, our 5 day trek and camp was cut short when Susan twisted her ankle while falling off a waterfall, but we'll go into that in our next blog.